The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Aglaonema plant, botanically known as Aglaonema hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Sterling’.
The new Aglaonema is the result of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Chamrajpet, Bangalore, India. The objective of the breeding program is to create new vigorous Aglaonema cultivars with compact and dense plant habit, unique leaf coloration, interesting leaf shapes, resistance to pathogens and pests common to Aglaonemas and tolerance to low temperatures.
The new Aglaonema originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventors on Apr. 24, 1984 of the Aglaonema commutatum cultivar Malay Lady, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Aglaonema hybrida identified as code number KSG Hybrid 85-22-1, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Aglaonema was discovered and selected by the Inventors in 1988 as a single plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Chamrajpet, Bangalore, India. The new Aglaonema was selected on the basis of its plant habit, leaf shape and uniquely colored foliage.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by divisions since September, 1989 in a controlled environment in Chamrajpet, Bangalore, India, has shown that the unique features of this new Aglaonema are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.